bridge too far

select

gentlemen

This is tough on staff. But, just for a minute, think of this. Generally, staff levels exceed available spaces for both the public and the staff. Also, hospitals cannot increase parking spaces willy-nilly. They are very much constrained by local authorities as to the number of parking spaces they provide. Of course they must try to cater for the public but equally of course they must be able to have the staff in place to look after the public. I don't know where your wife works, but I do know that at SUHT there is a park and ride system for staff (there is here in Oxford too). Some NHS Trusts also 'pay' (only pence) staff to cycle to work. Charging staff for parking goes a little way towards encouraging them to think of alternatives and ease the pressure on the limited spaces. Where it falls down is when staff have to travel between sites (although again here in Oxford there is a hospital shuttle service). What hacks me off is that consultants on £100K a year pay the same rate as junior / student nurses (here at least)

There's one thing I'm finding hard to understand. I really am - and I'd be grateful if someone could help me out here. I've been watching the Queen's Speech and the ensuing debate. DC said that he was going to use the money from scrapping the rise in NI to fund cancer drugs. Since the money from raising NI won't actually be raised now, since the measure is to be scrapped, how can he spend it on something else? Or is he adding to the deficit?

mess

fives

tarzan

fonder

vacuum

There is a difference Wes. Most of these contracts with the private sector are performance related. For example, if a patient throws up on a ward, the mess has to be cleaned within x minutes. There are also penalties for, as an example, non-availability of an operating theatre due to it being unclean. Penalties have to be added up by someone and ultimately this tots up to payment deductions. The cleaning operatives are invariably centrally located within the hospital. When the cleaning services were in-house, usually each ward / department had its own cleaner available at all times (during the day at least). Obviously it's cheaper to have fewer cleaners centrally located but add in the cost of monitoring and operating the penalty system and then arguing about the deductions, and I bet you anything you like it works out more expensive overall for a poorer service. I remember chatting with a cleaner one day who said that she was (relatively) happy to work for a pittance for the NHS and its patients but she was 'b*ggered' if she was going to work for the same pittance, delivering a poorer service in order to line a few pocket

warning

precocious

He was in the janitor's cupboard, along with Henry.

With regard to your last sentence, Wes, I can tell you two stories. My father visited us on one occasion. He used to teach Maths to bricklayer apprentices at the old Southampton Tech. He got very excited when my daughter said she had some 'O' level maths homework. His face fell when he saw the standard - it was way above what he taught. Similarly her own father, a Physics / Maths graduate from So'ton Uni, said that her 'A' level stuff was what he did when he was an undergraduate. She now tries to help her niece with her 'A' level Maths and says it is as hard as when she studied for her Maths degree. So I think standards have improved. But I think there needs to be a realignment of grades.

Bjorn

species

reef

Update: David Miliband now officially running with 36 nominations so far and Ed Miliband now has 39 nominations. They only need 33 nominations to be an official candidate.

mask (been here before I think)

I can't disagree with any of the above really, Wes. You're absolutely right about the situation with regard to nurses and their agencies although a lot of work has been done to drive down the rates the agencies charge. I think you're right about universities too. My children were fortunate in that their 'grants' were based on my salary alone (as I was divorced) and so they all got quite significant amounts which helped them. I think employers recognise the 'good' universities but also I think they appreciate that the subject is often irrelevant - it's the self-discipline required to get the degree that is also important. I also think, for example, that MBAs are becoming devalued now, with the increasing availability of colleges offering them.

bra

jocks

tuck

A perk? Sshhh don't let on

underneaths (geddit?)